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Ellen G. White on the Incarnation (incomplete study)

Summary thoughts.

  • It had to be someone above law who could save us. {BEcho February 8, 1897, par. 3}
  • His personality did not begin in the incarnation. (Lt77, August 3, 1894)
  • Christ, the begotten Son, is the heart of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. {Ms80-1910.8} and {Ms86-1910 (August 21, 1910) par. 30}
  • Christ's condescension amazed Satan. {Desire of Ages, p.115)
  • Son of God in a new sense. {1SM 226.2} {5BC 1114.10}{ST August 2, 1905, par. 2}
  • His human nature was created; it did not even possess the angelic powers. It was human, identical with our own. {6MR 111.1}
  • In Christ is united the divine and the human--the Creator and the creature. {EGW, Manuscript 141, 1901}
  • “IT WAS THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD WHO STEPPED DOWN. He gave himself for us. Leaving his splendor, his majesty, his high command, and clothing his divinity with humanity, that humanity might touch humanity, and divinity lay hold upon divinity, he came to this earth, and in our behalf suffered the death of the cross.” {EGW, GCB April 23, 1901, Art. B, par. 3}
  • Jesus did not become the Son of God through incarnation, He was already the Son of God; the condescension made Him become the Son of Man.
  • Jesus, the Son of Man.

Others

  • DA 336.1: When Jesus was awakened to meet the storm, He was in perfect peace. There was no trace of fear in word or look, for no fear was in His heart. But He rested not in the possession of almighty power. It was not as the “Master of earth and sea and sky” that He reposed in quiet. That power He had laid down, and He says, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” John 5:30. He trusted in the Father's might. It was in faith—faith in God's love and care—that Jesus rested, and the power of that word which stilled the storm was the power of God.

Incarnate Son.

RH July 9, 1895, par. 13: The Eternal Father, the unchangeable one, gave his only begotten Son, tore from his bosom Him who was made in the express image of his person, and sent him down to earth to reveal how greatly he loved mankind. ...

Letter 253, written by EGW, addressed to Dr. J. H. Kellogg, is significant at several levels and worth reading in its entirety. In it she counsels Dr. Kellogg on the pantheistic teachings of his book, The Living Temple and, in the process, makes several importan declarations regarding the personality of God and Christology.

18LtMs, Lt 253, 1903, par. 29: ...It is by the Word made flesh that we are saved. Our redemption was wrought out, not by the Son of God’s remaining in heaven, but by the Son of God’s becoming incarnate—taking humanity upon Him and coming to this world. Thus eternal life was brought to us. That which authority, commands, and promises could not do, God did by coming to this world in the likeness of sinful flesh.

EGW held a belief in the dual nature of Christ:

  • LHU 76.2: Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person—the man Christ Jesus.
  • 16MR 182.1: Our Lord was tempted as man is tempted. He was capable of yielding to temptations, as are human beings. His finite nature was pure and spotless, but the divine nature that led Him to say to Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” also, was not humanized; neither was humanity deified by the blending or union of the two natures; each retained its essential character and properties.

Only the Son's death could pay the debt.

  • ST November 4, 1908, par. 2: In all the universe there was but One who could, in behalf of man, satisfy its claims. Since the divine law is as sacred as God Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement for its transgression. None but Christ could redeem fallen man from the curse of the law, and bring him again into harmony with Heaven. Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive to a holy God that it must separate the Father and the Son.
  • YI June 21, 1900, par. 2: Not one of the angels could have become surety for the human race: their life is God's; they could not surrender it. The angels all wear the yoke of obedience. They are the appointed messengers of Him who is the commander of all heaven. But Christ is equal with God, infinite and omnipotent. He could pay the ransom for man's freedom. He is the eternal, self-existing Son, on whom no yoke had come; and when God asked, “Whom shall I send?” he could reply, “Here am I; send me.” He could pledge himself to become man's surety; for he could say that which the highest angel could not say,—I have power over my own life, “power to lay it down, and ... power to take it again.”
  • 2SP 10.1: The divine Son of God was the only sacrifice of sufficient value to fully satisfy the claims of God's perfect law. The angels were sinless, but of less value than the law of God. They were amenable to law. They were messengers to do the will of Christ, and before him to bow. They were created beings, and probationers. Upon Christ no requirements were laid. He had power to lay down his life, and to take it again. No obligation was laid upon him to undertake the work of atonement. It was a voluntary sacrifice that he made. His life was of sufficient value to rescue man from his fallen condition.

The Son of God had to become the Son of Man in order to experience death.

  • Hebrews 2:9 (ESV): But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
  • 13LtMs, Lt 97, 1898, par. 11: The life is in the living, vital current of blood, which blood was given for the life of the world. Christ made a full atonement, giving His life as a ransom for us. He was born without a taint of sin, but came into the world in like manner as the human family. He did not have a mere semblance of a body, but He took human nature, participating in the life of humanity. According to the law Christ Himself gave, the forfeited inheritance was ransomed by the nearest of kin. Jesus Christ laid off His royal robe, His kingly crown, and clothed His divinity with humanity, in order to become a substitute and surety for humanity, that dying in humanity He might by His death destroy him who had the power of death. He could not have done this as God, but by coming as man Christ could die. By death He overcame death. The death of Christ bore to the death him who had the power of death, and opened the gates of the tomb for all who receive Him as their personal Saviour.

The Son of God became human in every respect, except without the taint of sin.

  • 6LtMs, Ms 57, 1890, par. 8: Christ’s perfect humanity is the same that man may have through connection with Christ. As God, Christ could not be tempted any more than He was not tempted from His allegiance in heaven. But as Christ humbled Himself to the nature of man, He could be tempted. He had not taken on Him even the nature of the angels, but humanity, perfectly identical with our own nature, except without the taint of sin. A human body, a human mind, with all the peculiar properties, He was bone, brain, and muscle. A man of our flesh, He was compassed with the weakness of humanity. The circumstances of His life were of that character that He was exposed to all the inconveniences that belong to men, not in wealth, not in ease, but in poverty and want and humiliation. He breathed the very air man must breathe. He trod our earth as man. He had reason, conscience, memory, will, and affections of the human soul which was united with His divine nature.
  • 6LtMs, Ms 57, 1890, par. 9: Our Lord was tempted as man is tempted. He was capable of yielding to temptations, as are human beings. His finite nature was pure and spotless, but the divine nature that led Him to say to Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” also [John 14:9], was not humanized; neither was humanity deified by the blending or union of the two natures; each retained its essential character and properties.
  • 6LtMs, Ms 57, 1890, par. 11: The divine nature, combined with the human, made Him capable of yielding to Satan’s temptations. Here the test to Christ was far greater than that of Adam and Eve, for Christ took our nature, fallen but not corrupted, and would not be corrupted unless He received the words of Satan in the place of the words of God. To suppose He was not capable of yielding to temptation places Him where He cannot be a perfect example for man, and the force and the power of this part of Christ’s humiliation, which is the most eventful, is no instruction or help to human beings.
  • 6LtMs, Ms 57, 1890, par. 12: But the facts of this history are not fable, but a living, acting, experience. [To deny this] would rob Jesus of His greatest glory—allegiance to God—which enshrouded Him as a garment in this world on the field of battle with the relentless foe, and He is not reckoned with the transgressor. He descended in His humiliation to be tempted as man would be tempted, and His nature was that of man, capable of yielding to temptation. His very purity and holiness were assailed by a fallen foe, the very one that became corrupted and then was ejected from heaven. How deeply and keenly must Christ have felt this humiliation.
  • 6LtMs, Ms 57, 1890, par. 14: The humanity of Christ received the fallen foe and engaged in battle with him. He was sustained in the conflict by divine power just as man will be sustained by his being a partaker of the divine nature. He gained victory after victory as our Champion, the Captain of our salvation, and the divine approval of God and all the universe of heaven flowed into His soul. His nature was shocked almost unto death, but the heavenly angels ministered unto the suffering One.

It was Christ's human nature that died.

  • 19LtMs, Lt 280, 1904, par. 9: Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God?—No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person—the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible. Christ, the sinless One, will save every son and daughter of Adam who accepts the salvation proffered them, consenting to become the children of God. The Saviour has purchased the fallen race with His own blood.

The nature of the incarnate Christ was dual.

  • DA 507.1: Looking upon Him in His humiliation, as He walked a man among men, they had not understood the mystery of His incarnation, the dual character of His nature.
  • ST May 10, 1899, par. 11: But although Christ's divine glory was for a time veiled and eclipsed by His assuming humanity, yet He did not cease to be God when He became man. The human did not take the place of the divine, nor the divine of the human. This is the mystery of godliness. The two expressions human and divine were, in Christ, closely and inseparably one, and yet they had a distinct individuality. Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own. His Deity could not be lost while He stood faithful and true to His loyalty. Surrounded with sorrow, suffering, and moral pollution, despised and rejected by the people to whom had been intrusted the oracles of heaven, Jesus could yet speak of Himself as the Son of man in heaven. He was ready to take once more His divine glory when His work on earth was done.

Note the statement, "His Deity could not be lost while He stood faithful and true to His loyalty." This sounds conditional—i.e, that had Christ failed the test of loyalty, His Deity would have been in jeopardy. The idea of "lost Deity" sounds anathema to most. How could a Being lose Deity when it is eternal and immoral by definition? Note further:

  • RH October 29, 1895, par. 6: Christ had not exchanged his divinity for humanity; but he had clothed his divinity in humanity, and he gave Satan the evidence for which he had asked,—showed him that he was the Son of God.
  • YI December 20, 1900, par. 7: Think of Christ's humiliation. He took upon himself fallen, suffering human nature, degraded and defiled by sin. He took our sorrows, bearing our grief and shame. He endured all the temptations wherewith man is beset. He united humanity with divinity: a divine spirit dwelt in a temple of flesh. He united himself with the temple. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” because by so doing he could associate with the sinful, sorrowing sons and daughters of Adam.

The following are seeming contradictory statements regarding Deity, suffering and death.

  • 19LtMs, Lt 280, 1904, par. 9: Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God?—No; the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person—the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible. Christ, the sinless One, will save every son and daughter of Adam who accepts the salvation proffered them, consenting to become the children of God. The Saviour has purchased the fallen race with His own blood.
  • 13LtMs, Ms 153, 1898, par. 21: Men need to understand that Deity suffered and sank under the agonies of Calvary. Yet Jesus Christ whom God gave for the ransom of the world purchased the church with His own blood. The Majesty of heaven was made to suffer at the hands of religious zealots, who claimed to be the most enlightened people upon the face of the earth.

These seeming contradictory statements can be resolved by understanding the dual nature of Christ. To say that "Deity did not sink and die" is to say that Deity cannot die, which is true—Deity is eternal and immortal. To say that "Deity suffered and sank" is to say that Deity suffered under the weight of sin and suffering at Calvary.

Key thought: The Incarnation inseparably united the Divine with the human natures—that is, from the Incarnation and onwards, Christ's nature is a dual nature, Divine and human, given that one brain/body was at work.

According to biblical ontology, you cannot have a conscious mind/spirit separated from the body. Thus, for the incarnate Man Christ, there is just one mind, one consciousness, bound by his physical human body, which governed the whole Person—both the human and the divine. In other words, in order for his “divinity” to function, his humanity or his brain/body had to function. That which was “mysteriously blended” was not separated at His death. Nevertheless, this "divinity," which Christ voluntarily did not exercise, still remained with Him as an integral aspect of His blended personality which went into the grave and experienced death as a whole Person; a mystery we are told. It is this blending of the two natures that makes His death efficacious. —Paul Chung, Death and Resurrection of Christ—Did the Divinity of Christ Die? (in pdf, highlighted text).

Divine and human inseparable. There was no separation of any aspect of Christ at his death and in his resurrection. His spirit, soul and body remained united and continued united at his death and in his resurrection.

  • ST April 14, 1898, par. 6: But the priests and rulers failed to realize that in Christ divinity was enthroned in humanity. Christ's humanity could not be separated from His divinity.
  • ST May 10, 1899, par 11: The two expressions human and divine were, in Christ, closely and inseparably one, and yet they had a distinct individuality. Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own. His Deity could not be lost while He stood faithful and true to His loyalty.
  • 3SP 203.2: Jesus said to Mary, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” When he closed his eyes in death upon the cross, the soul of Christ did not go at once to Heaven, as many believe, or how could his words be true—“I am not yet ascended to my Father”? The spirit of Jesus slept in the tomb with his body, and did not wing its way to Heaven, there to maintain a separate existence, and to look down upon the mourning disciples embalming the body from which it had taken flight. All that comprised the life and intelligence of Jesus remained with his body in the sepulcher; and when he came forth it was as a whole being; he did not have to summon his spirit from Heaven. He had power to lay down his life and to take it up again.

Fully dead. The Son of God was fully dead in the tomb. He had one mind, one consciousness that slept in the tomb.

It is evident that the Son of God was fully dead. Otherwise, why would Satan think it possible to retain forever the Son of God in the tomb?

  • 12MR 421.3: How impotent on this occasion was the power of the kings and rulers. They could not act their will on Him who was slain for the sins of the world. Had it been possible, the prince of darkness with his apostate army would have kept forever sealed the tomb that held the Son of God. But a heavenly host guarded the sepulcher. With majestic and terrible tread, the God of heaven, followed by the angels, walked round the tomb of Christ. They had been unseen witnesses of all that had taken place in the mock trial in the judgment hall. Every action was noted, every taunt recorded.

Also, why only the "God of heaven, followed by the angels" walked round the tomb of Christ? If God is three divine Beings, why the mention of only one?

Dead know nothing. If it is true that "the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiaste 9:5), then Christ was unconscious in the tomb. Otherwise, he would not be human. And, if only the Father and the angels walked around the tomb of Christ, then Christ's divine nature was also unconscious. Add to that Christ's own statement, "I can do nothing on my own" (John 5:30), then we can literally and rightly believe that it was the Father who raised Jesus from the dead, as all the NT references to Christ's resurrection proclaim. It was "God the Father, who raised him [Jesus Christ] from the dead" (Galatians 1:1).

Didn't Jesus say he had power to take back his life? Some use the following verse to prove that Jesus Christ did not die completely,

John 10:17-18: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

The Greek word that was translated “I may take,” (Strong’s Concordance number 2983) can also mean: “to receive (what is given), to gain, get, obtain, to get back.” Please notice that this word is also used in verse 18 but is translated “I have received.” Christ laid down His life that He might receive it again. The Greek word that in some versions is translated as “power” can also mean “authority, permission.” Thus, this verse can be interpreted as follows:

Christ had permissionto lay down His life so that He could receiveit again from His Father.

Adding support to this view is Uriah Smith:

"He could lay down his life, and the Father had given him assurance that if he did so, he would bring him again from the dead. This power was given him of his Father, and rested in the assurance of his word. So when Christ died, he commended his spirit into the hands of his Father; and when the proper time came, the Father, according to his foreordained purpose, brought him again from the dead." —Uriah Smith, "Christ's Power to Take his Life Again," RH August 15, 1871, p. 68.

EGW supports this idea:

  • 12LtMs, Ms 94, 1897, par. 9: By their actions God was glorified. The very efforts made to prevent Christ’s resurrection are the most convincing arguments of the truth of His resurrection. The greater the number of soldiers placed round the tomb, the stronger would be the testimony borne in regard to the resurrection. He who died for the sins of the world was to remain in the tomb the allotted time. He was in that stony prison house as a prisoner of divine justice. He was responsible to the Judge of the universe. He was bearing the sins of the world, and His Father only could release Him. A strong guard of mighty angels kept watch over the tomb, and had a hand been raised to remove the body, the flashing forth of their glory would have laid him who ventured powerless on the earth.
  • YI May 2, 1901, par. 8: There was only one entrance to the tomb, and neither human fraud nor force could tamper with the stone that guarded the entrance. Here Jesus rested during the Sabbath. A strong guard of angels kept watch over the tomb, and had a hand been raised to remove the body, the flashing forth of their glory would have laid him who ventured powerless on the earth. He who died for the sins of the world was to remain in the tomb for the allotted time. He was in that stony prison house as a prisoner of divine justice, and he was responsible to the Judge of the universe. He was bearing the sins of the world, and his Father only could release him.

There is then the EGW quote that sounds contradictory:

  • 12LtMs, Ms 131, 1897, par 1: When the voice of the angel was heard saying, “Thy Father calls thee,” He who had said, “I lay down my life that I may take it again,” “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again,” came forth from the grave to life that was in Himself. [John 10:17; 2:19.] Deity did not die. Humanity died, but Christ now proclaims over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.] In His divinity Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. He declares that He had life in Himself to quicken whom He will.
  • YI January 3, 1905, par. 1: “I am the resurrection, and the life.” He who had said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again,” came forth from the grave to life that was in himself. Humanity died; divinity did not die. In his divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. He declares that he has life in himself to quicken whom he will.

Note the wording, "to life that was in Himself." It does not say, "by the life that was in Himself." Only the Father "could release him" and once He did, Christ regained his access "to life" that was in Himself. By analogy, think of a seed of grain. It has the germ of life, but must be buried and "die" before the right set of conditions can cause it to germinate. Jesus had voluntarily forfeited his human life and denied himself of his divine nature and thus remained dead in the tomb.

  • J. H. Waggoner, 1884, The Atonement In The Light Of Nature And Revelation, pages 164, 165: No matter how exalted the pre-existent Son was; no matter how glorious, how powerful, or even eternal; if the manhood only died, the sacrifice was only human.
  • J. H. Waggoner, 1884, The Atonement In The Light Of Nature And Revelation, page 173) (This is also found in Review & Herald, November 10, 1863, vol. 22, page 189): The declaration, that the divine Son of God could not die, is as far from the teachings of the Bible as darkness is from light.
  • E. J. Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness pg 43.2: Christ died ‘that he might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18), but if He lacked one iota of being equal to God, He could not bring us to Him. Divinity means having the attributes of Deity. If Christ were not Divine, then we should have only a human sacrifice.

HOWEVER, Desire of Ages tells us this:

  • DA 785.2: When the voice of the mighty angel was heard at Christ's tomb, saying, Thy Father calls Thee, the Saviour came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Now was proved the truth of His words, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again.... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Now was fulfilled the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 10:17, 18; 2:19.

Our High Priest. In order for Jesus to become a merciful and faithful high priest "he had to be made like his brothers in every respect" (Hebrews 2:17). But if humans face the risk of eternal non-existence (i.e. annihilation in the second death) but Christ did not then was he really made like us in all things? The answer, of course, is no!

Jesus faced real (eternal) death. Consider Hebrews 5:7 which says, "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence." Apparently, Jesus faced death from which he could not return and relied on the Father as the one "who was able to save him from death."

  • 10LtMs, Lt 119, 1895, par. 32: Christ has found His pearl of great price in lost, perishing souls. He sold all that He had to come into possession, even engaged to do the work and run the risk of losing His own life in the conflict.
  • DA 131.2: Never can the cost of our redemption be realized until the redeemed shall stand with the Redeemer before the throne of God. Then as the glories of the eternal home burst upon our enraptured senses we shall remember that Jesus left all this for us, that He not only became an exile from the heavenly courts, but for us took the risk of failure and eternal loss. Then we shall cast our crowns at His feet, and raise the song, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12.
  • GCB December 1, 1895, par 23: Who can estimate the value of a soul? Go to Gethsemane, and there watch with Jesus through those long hours of anguish when he sweat as it were great drops of blood; look upon the Saviour uplifted on the cross; hear that despairing cry, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Look upon that wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet. Remember that Christ risked all; “tempted like as we are,” he staked even his own eternal existence upon the issue of the conflict. Heaven itself was imperiled for our redemption. At the foot of the cross, remembering that for one sinner Jesus would have yielded up his life, we may estimate the value of a soul.
  • 12LtMs, Ms 143, 1897, par. 17: Had there been the least taint of sin in Christ, Satan would have bruised His head. As it was, he could only touch His heel. Had the head of Christ been touched, the hope of the human race would have perished. Divine wrath would have come upon Christ as it came upon Adam. Christ and the church would have been without hope. But Christ “knew no sin.” [2 Corinthians 5:21.] He was the Lamb “without blemish and without spot.” [1 Peter 1:19.]

"It is irrefutable that the incarnated Son of God could have actually died! He was not permanently, unconditionally God. The whole idea of 3 persons inseparably unified as the one true God does not pass the test of inspiration. As EGW explains the Man Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty. He had stepped down from His high position as co-regent with the Lord God Almighty and would not take that title back up again until He completed His work on earth. Now of course this is anathema to trinitarianism." From https://www.asitreads.com/blog/2018/1/9/the-death-of-the-son-of-god.

Conditional Deity. The Son, who received the Father's life as His own, voluntarily put the retention of His Deity, His very eternal existence, on a conditional basis. He was offering to give it all back to the Father if He failed in His work of redeeming humanity. This was His infinite risk.

  • ST May 10, 1899, par. 11: Though Christ humbled Himself to become man, the Godhead was still His own. His Deity could not be lost while He stood faithful and true to His loyalty.

Other quotes

  • 5LtMs, Lt 11, 1887, par. 17: Contrast this with the riches of glory, the wealth of praise pouring forth from immortal tongues—millions of rich voices in the universe of God in anthems of adoration. But He humbled Himself and took mortality upon Him. As a member of the human family, He was mortal. But as a God, He was the Fountain of life to the world. He could in His divine person ever have withstood the advances of death and refused to come under its dominion; but He voluntarily laid down His life, that in so doing He might give life and bring immortality to light. He must bear the sins of the world and endure the penalty which rolled like a mountain upon His divine soul. He died not through being compelled to die, but by His own free will. This was humility. The whole treasures of heaven were poured out in one Gift to save fallen man. He brought into His human nature all the life-giving energies that human beings will need and must receive. Wondrous combination of man and God! He might have eternally kept human nature withstanding the inroads of disease by His divine nature pouring in vitality and undecaying vigor to the human. But He humbled Himself to man’s nature. He did this that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The plan was entered into by the Son of God, knowing all the steps that He must descend in His humiliation to make an expiation for the sins of a condemned, groaning world.

References